King Philip Regional supporters raising money for artificial turf field

King Philip Regional High School has a nationally recognized marching band, but it practices in the school’s parking lot. The school’s lacrosse team sometimes spends its first two weeks of the spring season practicing indoors in a gymnasium. And soccer players get bussed around to whichever fields in the regional school district’s three towns – Norfolk, Plainville, and Wrentham – can accommodate them.

The problem: the high school’s grass playing field, which will get destroyed if it sees too much use.

“It’s in not good shape,” said Steve Schairer, the high school’s athletic director. “The middle of the field doesn’t have grass. It’s mostly dirt. It’s difficult to grow it, because we try to play as many games on it as possible.”

Officials and boosters are hoping to replace the grass field with artificial turf before the beginning of the next school year, but they’ll need to raise nearly a million dollars to do it.